e fashionables of Paris, and
even of the provinces, was their long straight hair, and their black
stocks buckled round the neck, military fashion. The Muscadins--that
was the name then given to young dandies--the Muscadins wore dogs' ears
puffing at the temples, the rest of the hair combed up tightly in a bag
at the back, and an immense cravat with long floating ends, in which
the chin was completely buried. Some had even extended this reaction to
powder.

As to the personality of the two young men, they presented two
diametrically opposite types.

The elder of the two, he who, as we have already remarked, had taken
the initiative several times, and whose voice, even in its most familiar
intonations, denoted the habit of command, was about thirty years of
age. His black hair was parted in the middle, falling straight from
his temples to his shoulders. He had the swarthy skin of a man who has
travelled long in southern climes, thin lips, a straight nose, white
teeth, and those hawk-like eyes which Dante gives to Caesar. He was short
rather than tall, his hand was delicate, his foot slender and elegant.
His manner betrayed a certain awkwardness, suggesting that he was at
the moment wearing a costume to which he was not accustomed, and when he
spoke, his hearers, had they been beside the Loire instead of the Rhone,
would have detected a certain Italian accent in his pronunciation.

His companion seemed to be some three or four years younger than he. He
was a handsome young man with a rosy complexion, blond hair and light
blue eyes, a straight, firm nose and prominent but almost beardless
chin. He was perhaps a couple of inches taller than his companion,
and though his figure was somewhat above medium height, he was so well
proportioned, so admirably free in his movements, that he was evidently
if not extraordinarily strong, at least uncommonly agile and dexterous.
Although attired in the same manner and apparently on a footing of
equality, be evinced remarkable deference to the dark young man,
which, as it could not result from age, was doubtless caused by some
inferiority of position. Moreover, he called his companion citizen,
while the other addressed him as Roland.

These remarks which we make to initiate the reader more profoundly into
our story, were probably not made as extensively by the guests at the
table d'hote; for after bestowing a few seconds of attention upon
the new-comers, they turned their eyes away, a